Construction of 153-room Cotati Hotel slated to begin next week, opening eyed for August 2024

A long-anticipated hotel in Cotati, the only city in Sonoma County without lodging, is set to break ground Monday after more than five years of planning, permitting and pandemic delays.

Construction of the 153-room Cotati Hotel is expected to be completed by August 2024.

Plans for the hotel began in 2017, when Santa Rosa native and developer Ken Molinaro learned a plot of land near Old Redwood Highway was going to be available . He purchased it with the intention of turning the space into a Reverb hotel, a brand of the Hard Rock Cafe International hotel and restaurant chain.

But, Molinaro said, these plans fell through and the hotel will now operate independently.

“Cotati is a really nice town, it’s got some good people and good merchants,” he said. “We’ve done quite a bit of outreach to the community over the years and 99% of our contact has been good.”

Cotati is the only city in Sonoma County without places for lodging, Cotati city manager Damien O’Bid said. The hotels closest to Cotati are in Rohnert Park.

“It’s been a longstanding community priority to have somewhere local for people to stay when they come and visit,” he said. “More specifically, it’s been a community priority to have some lodging here in town.”

The hotel will occupy a 2-acre property immediately off Highway 101. It will have a plaza and marketplace to complement the space, boasting 153 rooms with five suites, a lounge bar, fitness center and outdoor seating.

The plaza, which will sit between the market and hotel, will have a stage for live music, a display area for local artists and space for wedding receptions.

The marketplace will feature 6,000 square feet of food venue space, which could include an in-house restaurant. The restaurant is still in the planning process and more details will be revealed closer to the hotel’s opening.

Molinaro told The Press Democrat in 2017 that he’s worked in real estate development for over 30 years and built resorts and hotels in Mexico for another 20 years.

He said Thursday even in the years he’s lived outside of the U.S. , he’s always come back for the “small town atmosphere” and that Sonoma County is “an incredible place to live.”

When it came to establishing the team behind the hotel, Molinaro said he wanted to use resources in the North Bay as much as he could. He said the design for the hotel is inspired by west county , bringing in local elements to make it welcoming.

“We really want to draw the local people in as well as the tourists because it’s supposed to be that kind of place,” Molinaro said. “There’s such a cornucopia of local products that we really want to make it a community affair.”

The land where the hotel will be located was being used as a park-and-ride location for CalTrans, but O’Bid said it was underused, estimating that 10 out of the 166 spaces were being used.

O’Bid said 30 parking spaces in the Cotati Hotel’s lot will continue to function as a park-and-ride. The remaining spaces will be relocated to Airport Boulevard, near where the HOV lane on Highway 101 begins and Petaluma Boulevard South. There the need is higher than the number of spaces available.

O’Bid added that the hotel will help activate the downtown area by being an entry point for both locals and tourists to explore the city.

“It will help all the businesses in the area and, hopefully, catalyze additional development in the downtown core,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Sara Edwards at 707-521-5487 or sara.edwards@pressdemocrat. com. On Twitter @sedwards380.